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MESSRS. CLEMENS, BUTLER, AND JEFFERSON DAVIS, 



THE VERMONT RESOLUTIONS RELATING TO SLAVERY. 



DELIVERED 



IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, JANUARY 10, 1850. 






WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 

1850. 






REMARKS OF MR. CLEMENS. 



The Senate proceeded to the unfinished business, 
being the resolutions from the Gen ral \ <-mbly 
of the State of Vei mom, which were pr< sented on 
Tuesday last by Mr. Ui-h.vm, as follows: 

Resoled by the Smote and Hotui of RepresentatU 1 i. That 
slavery U a crime against humanity, aud ■ wire evil in the 
body politic, tliiit was excused in the framei • of me Fi di ral 

Constitution as 8 crime entailed U| the country by their 

predecessors, and tolerated Bolely as a thing ol inej 
necessity. 

Resolved, Thai the bo calli «i "c impromises of the Cnnsti 
union'' restraint d the Feder ii <: ivcrniuent from interfering 
with slavery only in tin- Statesin which II then exixted, and 
from interference with the slave trade only tor a limited 
time, winch has long since expired; and that the i> 
coin', rred upon Congress by the Constitution to suppress the 
trade, to regulate commerce between the Slates, to 
govern the Territories, and to a Imit new States — powers 
conferred with an express intention " to form a mon pei 
feet union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, 
provide tor the common defence, promote the general »i i- 
fare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our 
posterity"— may all rightfully be used so as to prevent the 

extension of slavery into territory now free, and 10 abolish 

el l very and the slave trade wherever • ither exists under the 
jurisdiction of Congress. 

Resolved, That 001 Senators and Representatives in Con- 
gress be requested to resist hy all and every constitutional 
means the extension of slavery m any manner, whether by 
the annexation to slavebnldibg Ti xas of territory no'.v free, 
or by the admission to the I'nion of territory already ac- 
quired, or which may be hereafter acquired, without an 
express prohibition of slavery, either In the constitution of 
each new State asking admission, or in the acl of Congress 
providing for such admission. 

Resoleal, farther, That our Senators and Representatives 
in Congress be requesti d to support every just and prudent 
measure for the exclusion of slavery from the District of I 
Columbia; for the entire suppression of the -live trade on 
the high sens, ami wherever else Congress has jurisdiction : 
and generally to relieve the Federal Government from ail 
responsibility tor tin 1 existence, maintenance, or tolerance 
of slavers, or the traffic m Blaves. 

Resolved, further, Thru our Senators in Congress he in- 
structed, and our Representatives requested, to use their 
exertions for the speed] org mization ol a territorial govt rn- 
ment tor New Mexico and California, with a provision for- 
ever excluding involuntary servitude, except for crime, I 
therefrom. 

Resolved, That the Governor be requested to furnish a 
copy of the foregoing resolutions to each of our Senators : 
and Representatives in Congress, and to ilic Governor of 
each State in the Union. 

Approved November 12, 1849. 

Mr. CLEMENS. I voted the otherday against 
the motion to" lay the question of printing these 
resolutions upon the table, not from any respect for 
the body who adopted them, or any desire to ex- 
tend a courtesy tcthose whocould so far forget what 
was due to the people of the southern States, and 
to theirown characters, as to clothe such sentiments 
in such language. But I agree with the Senator 
from South Carolina [Mr. Butler] that the people 
of the South ought to be acquainted with northern 
feeling. I desire these resolutions printed for an- 
other reason: I wish to show my constituents that 
the declarations so often and so earnestly made that 



forth does n interfere with slavery 

when ; entirely false, and intended only 

t i rji ceive. Thi ■•• itfa boom 

ess heretofore, and I should consider myself 
very culpable if 1 did not now expose it. It is 
true, we still have the declaration of Senators that 
all interference loith slavery in ihr stales is fori 
to their purposes, but it is asking too much of our 
credulily to expect us to believe such statements 
when they are accompanied by the introduction of 
utions directly contradicting then- assertions. 
These resolutions do not stop at the .same point 
with ill" Senator from Ohio, [Mr. Chase.] They 
j go far bcymd the ground he has taken. They as- 
: sert that the so-called compromises of the Co:>sti- 
tution n itrict interfere ice with slavery only in the 
States in which it existed at the time of the adop- 
tion of that instrument. And, according to the doc- 
trine here avowed, Congress has the power to 
abolish slavery in Alabama, or in any other Stale 
admitted since the adoption of the Constitution. 
Another and a bolder step has been taken in the 
march of aggression. Another mask has been 
; removed and another deformity revealed. I am 
\ ready, therefore, to vote for the printing of any 
number of these resolutions, for the purpose of 
; distributing them among the people of the South, 
i It is time we understood this question, and knew 
| what we shall be called upon to re.-ist. So far as 
1 my action goes, that knowledge shall not be with- 
,; held. 

We have never asked anything at your hands 
beyond a strict adherence to the Constitution. 
i We have never proposed any interference with 
your domestic relations. We have not assumed a 
j censorship over your morals. We have asked fro n 
1 you no boon, and desired nothing but non-inter- 
I vention with the rights secured to us by the 
; stitution, and for the maintenance of whii : i ;. ■ r 
; fathers solemnly and deliberately pledged 
faith. Sorely these are not hard conditions. > 
in.: lot she most determined spirit of intermeddling 
— nothing but the most reel. I s rd ol con- 

• nces, or the most profound contempt for all 
the warnings we have given, could induce the 
: northern people to persist in the mad career they 
have been running for the last fifteen years. W!un 
; the future historian records the events of that 
period, in no matter how truthful and simile lan- 
^e, will posterity believe the story ? W < 
16 after us believe it possible that a 
whole people, from a mere spirit of aggression, 
without a motive apart from the pleasure which 
the tyrant always feels in the infliction of a wr.niir, 
have madly torn to pieces the most glorious fa!>ric 
ever erected by human hands? The miserable 
plea that you are actuated by a desire to improve 



the morals of the South, and the equally miserable 
affectation of special devotion to the cause of hu- 
manity, will soon be forgotten, or remembered 
only as an evidence of the deep hypocrisy of 
which human nature is sometimes capable. Your 
acts and your motives must both be reviewed by 
a tribunal which cannot fail to pronounce them 
something worse than insane. When the fountain 
first bubbled into day, its waters were supplied by 
folly; but the stream has gathered in its course 
so much of hypocrisy and wickedness,, that we 
are constrained to detest what at first we only 
despised. 

The value of the slave property in the southern 
States exceeds nine hundred millions of dollars. 
No people ever existed, or ever will exist, who 
would consent to the destruction of this vast 
wealth without a long and desperate struggle; and 
can it be possible that you dream of effecting its 
destruction by peaceful means, when you have to 
deal with a race constitutionally brave, even to 
rashness, and as prone to resentment as " the 
sparks to fly upwards?" Or do you indulge that 
other delusion, that it is in your power to compel 
submission ? If either of these fancies have taken 
possession of the northern mind, take my advice, 
and be in some haste to expel it. The most dan- 
gerous ignis fatuus that ever lured a wanderer by 
night into a deadly quagmire is harmless when 
compared with such a guide. 

Suppose we had no motive to resist abolition 
agitation save the powerful one of protecting our 
property: would you, if the picture were reversed, 
hesitate one moment about the adoption of the 
most extreme measures? Would you have borne 
what we have already submitted to ? What would 
be your conduct, if, year after year, we flooded 
this hall with petitions to burn down your facto- 
ries ? If, year after year, we insulted you with 
resolutions, passed by State Legislatures, decla- 
ring that the system of white slavery, which unde- 
niably exists in your manufactories and elsewhere, 
is offensive to the moral sense of the South, and 
one from which it became a Christian people to 
divorce themselves ? Suppose we reminded you of 
the pauperism and crime in ymir great cities; of the 
bands of juvenile vagrants " pilfering whenever 
opportunity offers, and begging when they cannot 
steal;" of the parents driving their children forth, 
the sons to commit felonies, and the daughters to 
prostitution.* All these things we might urge 
with far more justice than belongs (o any of your 
complaints against us. But would you bear it? 
would you tolerate such petitions, or listen with 
patience to such resolutions? If you did, you 
would belie the character which the world has 
given to the Yankee States. 

The Senator from Ohio says that he is not to-be 
deterred by menaces of disunion, from pursuing the 
course he has marked out for himself. I have no 
wish to deter him. 1 want Inn; and other north- 
ern men to come up boldly, and do what they tell 
us their constituencies have demanded. I malic 
no menaces, but 1 insist that the Senators from 
Vermont obey the instructions of their Legisla- 
ture, and introduce the bills they are there required 
to introduce. I borrow the language of a mem- 



s These facts are lakrn from the " Report of the Chief of 
Police," New York, commencing May 1st and endin<- Oc- 
tober, 1«49. 



ber in the other end of the Capitol, and tell them 
to "come up and face the music." Do not dodge 
the question. Do not attempt to get rid of it by 
indirection, but stand up, as the representatives of 
freemen ought to do, and look it in the face. If 
you are right, or believe yourselves so, persevere. 
If you are wrong, but yet believe you can commit 
that wrong with impunity, keep on. We have a 
lesson in store for you which may be severe) but 
will certainly be useful. 

The South, Mr. President, disclaims the lan- 
guage of menace, but it is nevertheless due to all 
parties that her deliberate purposes should be 
plainly announced. We do not intend to stand 
still and have our throats cut because the butcher 
chooses to soothe us under the operation witli 
honeyed words. You can deceive us no longer by 
the catchwords "conciliation and harmony. " 
Nor can our voices be stilled by the fear of in- 
curring the reproach of imprudence. I said the 
other day, and I repeat now, that the time for 
prudential action has gone by. It is this prudence, 
of which we have heard so much, that has brought 
us tb the situation in which we now are. It is 
this constant talking about prudential action which 
has induced the people of the North to believe 
that we do not intend to resist. 

There is a point at which prudence changes 
from a virtue to a vice, and it often happens that 
it is used only as another name for cowardice. It 
is not to be wondered at if our good brethren of 
the North have mistaken the one for the other, and 
have thus found courage to persist in a crusade 
which promised to be unattended with danger. I 
know not if they will thank me for undeceiving 
them, but it is my habit to deal plainly with all 
men, and I now proclaim that you have reached 
the utmost limit to which you can go. There is 
a line beyond which you must not pass. Ymt 
have inarched up to it, and now cross it if you 
dare. 1 do not say this to intimidate. I do not 
believe it will have that effect. On the contrary, 
I believe with the Senator from South Carolina, 
[Mr. Calhoon.] that this movement %oill run its 
course, and end, as all similar things have ended. 
in blood and tears. The demagogues of the North 
have raised a tempest they cannot control. It is 
impelling them onwards with an irresistible force — ■ 
they can neither recedenor stand still; and, how- 
ever fearful may be the path before them, it is 
one they must tread. For a miserable partisan 
purpose they have excited and kept alive bitter 
sectional jealousies, and burning hatreds, which 
are now bringing forth deadly fruits. " They 
have sown the wind, and must reap the whirl- 
wind." In the history of nations there are fre- 
quently periods when the statesman feels himself 
borne along upon a turbulent tide to an unknown 
port. A curtain is drawn between him and the 
future which his utmost sagacity fails to penetrate. 
But that period is past with us. Fold after fold of 
the curtain has been rolled away, and the view be- 
yond, is neither dim nor indistinct. He who cannot 
now trace out step by step each successive event of 
the future, has learned but little from the past his- 
tory of mankind, and is ill fitted to be the lawgiver 
of a nation. The North will not save the Union, 
and the South cannot, unless indeed we submit to 
indignities and wrongs of so degrading » character 
as would almost make our fathers "burst the. cere- 
ments of the tomb," and come among us once more 



to denounce and disown the di gi ni ratedeaci ndanta 
who had disgraced a gloriou We know 

well whal wi have toexn* ct, Northern d< m mds 
have assumed a rorm which ii is in 
to misundi rstand. Firs! comes ouri sclusion from 
the territories. N< xl abolition in the Disti icl of 
Columbia — in the fori . dock yards, &c. 

Then the prohibit f thi I ve trade bi tv. • i n 

the Stat( : ind, finally, total abolition. Theaere- 
suits are jus) as certain, unless the Ural Blep is 
firmly resisted, as thai the Bun will rise to-morrow, 
and tin' night will follow hia going down. Here- 
tofore it has been pretended thai it was nol the pur- 
pose of any considerable body al 1 1 » •— North to in- 
terfere with .slavery in the Stairs-, bul this is an 
illusion which these resolutions have come in good 

timo to dispel. 1 always knew it was falsi', Bul I 

did not expect to see the cloak so Boon thrown 
aside. But even it" it wi re true, 1 would still say I 
do not choose to place myself at your mercy. I 
will not exchange the fortifications which the C 
stitution lias thrown around my rights for a frail 
reliance on your generosity or your forbearance. 
I ioncession nev< r yel satisfii d fan itici im, nor has 
the march of the wrong-doer ever been stayed by 
the svpplications of the sufferer. Situated as we 
are. the impulse of manlini ss is the dictate of pru- 
dence. Our duty and out obvious policy alike 
demand that we should meet the danger on the 
threshold, and fall or conquer there. It is of no 
consequence by what name you choose to designate 
your aggressions. When a principle is established 
whicli must bring not only poverty bul desolation 

and death lo the South, it is i an Material whether you 
call it abolition, free soil, or, to use the phrase of I he 
Senator from Ohio, fiee democracy; the end is the 
same, and so should be the resistance also. When 
the fall of the outworks must be followed by the 
fall of the citadel, he is a poor commander who 
hesitates to risk everything in their defence. It is 
so with us; we cannot yield an inch of the ground 
we now occupy without compromising our safety, 
and, what is worse, incurring the reproach of eter- 
nal infamy. None but children can be imposed 
upon by the miserable delusion that abolition will 
pause in the midst of its successes. One triumph 
will but pave the way to another, until the wildest 
dream of fanaticism becomes a reality, i under- 
stand the policy of the North, as avowed in the 
other end of the Capitol, is to urge but one meas- 
ure at the time; to proceed step by step, anil to 
hide as much as possible from the public eye all 
future results. That would indeed be a shrewd 
game, and one well worthy of the brain that con- 
ceived it; but, unfortunately for its success, then- 
are more fingers than one in the pie; there are too 
many demagogues to control, and the sentiment 
they have awakened among the honest but mis- 
guided masses is too impatient of restraint to await 
a process so slow and so fatiguing. They have 
been taught to believe, that every hour slavery 
continues on the continent detracts from their 
chances of salvation, and that its abolition has b< en 
specially intrusted to them by Ciod himself. No 
wonder they go beyond the knaves who have 
duped them. No wonder they refuse to listen to 
prudential counsels, and demand paompt action, at 
whatever sacrifice of life or property to themselves 
or others. It is human nature — above all, it is the 
nature of the fanatic. 

But a. few yeans since we were told that the rig/if 



lion v. as all thi j 

Ided boldiu ■■< to their di manda, nnd 

even thosi who cli to be modi i iu uod con 

men talk with uplifted hands of the horrors 
of slat iteful when 

they p »ne the woi k ol robbery and 

murdi r yel a little loi 

The Senator from Ohio, tx j hi ■ it 

in tin;; body, addn ed remarka la one 

Of his constituents, and la- 
the sentiments il contained. He claims to be a 

Democrat, and avers that abolil lonstilufc 

portion of the creed. Sir, the Senator from Ohio 
und myself have tudied it in different chonls. I 
think I know something of the faith which Jeffer- 
son taught, and '< 

I ,,,, | ( , • . IM | ii ,,, incul : construction of 

the Constitution, and i ' the 

exercise of any doubtful power. This is the whole 

i. summed up in a single sentence, and it 
n< eds no elaboration. Let us try tfie doctrine of 
free democracy fa tie test. Where is the 

constitutions n which gives to Congress 

the power to legi date upon the aul tvi rjr 

in the Ti rritories or el i •■■ .■ i • I maintain that it 
is nol to be found in that instrument, and that there 
is no -ranted power from which it can be implied. 
It follows, then, that the exercise of the power 
must be anti-democratic, nnd free democracy de- 
rates into the purest federali m. Hut I do not 

cl se to base my argument upon this gn 

done. If Congn ed the power, il 

ercise would be unjust and iniquitous — bo unjust 
as to call for resistance "at every hazard and to 
the last extremity." The Senate must pardon me 
for asking, upon what principle of natural equity, 
aside from any question of constitutional right, 
the northern Slates rest their claim to exclusive 
possession of the Territories ? Did_ their treasure 
pun base the national domain? Was their blood 
alone poured out to acquire it? Or did it come 
down as an exclusive inheritance to them? Iap- 
peal to the history of the country, from the earli- 
est dawn of the Revolution to the close of ourlatest 
struggle, for an answer. The money which has been 
paid for the Territories was raised by duties upon 
imports, levied notoriously and designedly for the 
protection of the North, and paid almost entirely 
by the South. Instead of a burden to you, it has 
been a bonrts. How stands the accountof personal 

, services? It was a southern man who pointed out 
the road from bondage to independence; who led 
you triumphantly through the perils of a seven 
years' war, and sternly refused the diadem with 
whioha grateful soldiery would have crowned him. 
It was a southern general and southern soldiers who 
breasted the British bayonets al New Orleans, and 
added one of its brightest chapters to the history 
of the Republic. S mthern blood has watered every 
plain from the St. Lawrence to the capital of the 
\ : ! memorable fields of Palo Alto ami 

R tea de la Talma were won by a southern gen- 

' eral. It was before the genius of a southern leader 

! that the walls and towers of Monterey crumbled 
into dust, and two southern regiments, struggling 
side by side in a glorious rivalry, snatched from 
the cannon's mouth the palm of victory. In the 
narrow gorge of Angostura, southern valor again 
stemmed the tide of war, and rolled back the mur- 
derous charges of the foe. On the sands of Vera 

. Cruz another great name which the South has 



6 



given to history and renown, added to a fame al- 
ready imperishable, and wrung fiom the reluctant 
nations of the Old World plaudits which they 
could not withhold. At Cerro Gordo the story of 
southern achievements was re-written in blood, and 
among the rocks and volcanoes of Contreras the 
glorious old Palmetto State vindicated her right 
to the title of chivalrous, and silenced forever the 
tongues of her detractors. Sir, I mean to indulge 
in no disparagement of the North. She has fur- 
nished gallant men who have done their duty nobly 
upon the field. I would not, if 1 could, tear a 
single laurel from her brow. But I claim that the 
record gives to usatleastan equality of the common 
dangers, the common sufferings, and the common 
triumphs, and 1 demand an equal participation in 
the rights they have established. The Senator 
from Ohio considers this an enormous pretension. 
Why is it enormous? It can only be because, in 
his view, repeated submission has sanctified ag- 
gression, and the successful perpetration of one 
wrong fully justifies another. Sir, however enor- 
mous it may be, I can tell the Senator it is a 
pretension we do not mean to abandon. We have 
yielded time after time to northern encroachment. 
We have suffered one violation of the Constitution 
to follow another, until we began to lose our own 
self-respect. But, thank God, a different spirit is 
now abroad in the land; and the descendants of 
those who fought at Eutaw, at Guilford, at the 
Cowpens, and at King's Mountain, are beginning 
to manifest something of the old revolutionary 
blood. Repeated aggressions have forced us to 
recall many things we would willingly have for- 
gotten, and new demands cannot fail to remind us 
of what has already been granted. Perhaps it 
may not be altogether without its uses to recall 
some striking events in the history of the past. I 
suppose it has not escaped the memory of the 
Senator from Ohio, that the whole northwestern 
territory, now constituting the States of Ohio, 
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, was 
originally slave territory. It was ceded to the 
Confederacy by the magnanimity of Virginia, 
and you have manifested your gratitude by fos- 
tering upon its bosom a population who are now 
ready-to sting to death their benefactors. In 1803 
we acquired Lousiaua, and of all that vast region 
you excluded us by the Missouri compromise 
from something like four-fifths of the' whole, and 
appropriated it exclusively to yourselves. And 
this, be it remembered, was slave territory, not an 
acreof it came into the Confederacy free. In 1819 
we acquired Florida and Oregon, and of this the 
South got 59,000 square miles, and the North 
341,000; making in all something like ] ,000,000 of 
square miles which the North has seized more than 
the South. We have submitted to this wholesale 
robbery with apatience that Job mighthave envied. 
Actuated by an anxious desire to preserve every 
bond of the Union unbroken, and every memory 
of the Revolution unembittered,\ve have pocketed 
the wrong, and taken the wrong-doers to our 
bosoms. But this manifestation of christian for- 
bearance on our part has not purchased the ex- 
emption it was intended to secure. You now claim 
the whole territory acquired in the war with Mex- 
ico,and not only this, but the half of Texas besides. 
History, sir, has but one parallel case. It is that 
of Brennus casting his sword and belt into the 
scale, and I, for one, am ready to reply in the lan- 



guage of Camillus, " it is the custom with us Ro- 
mans to ransom our country not with gold, but 
with iron." 

It has become the fashion to answer every com- 
plaint made by the South with appeals in favor 
of the Union, and there are not wanting ready 
tongues and readier pens to denounce all those who 
dare to calculate its value. Without professing to 
be any bolder than other men, I have yet enough of 
moral and physical csurage to defy all such sense- 
less clamors. The Union is valuable only for 
the privileges it confers and the rights it secures. 
When the government is so administered as to op- 
press and grind down one portion of the Confeder- 
acy, it ceases to be an object of veneiation to me, 
and I am ready to rend asunder its firmest bonds. 
If you desire us to remain in the Union, deal with 
us justly and fairly. If you wish to preserve a 
community of interests, act in such a manner as 
to win back that kindly confidence you have done 
so much to forfeit. Until this is done, it is worse 
than idle to talk to me of the glories of the Union. 
That glory which is purchased by the degradation 
of the South, and enjoyed only amid insult and 
oppression, has no charms for me. Yet I would 
not have the Senate to understand that I am insen- 
sible to all the advantages which we have derived, 
and might still derive, from such a Union as our 
fathers contemplated. Give me that Union. Re- 
store that constitution which has been so mourn- 
fully disfigured, and I will follow its banner 
through every peril humanity can face. But what 
reverence can you expect a southern man to en- 
tertain for a Union which is known to him chiefly 
through the insults it hassanctionedand the wrongs 
it has legalized. 

The Senator from Ohio asks what grounds we 
have of complaint. The list of grievances is a 
long one, and the patience of the Senate would be 
exhausted if I attempted to recount them all. I 
will, however, remind him of some of the many 
claims the people of the North have established 
to our gratitude. They have established clubs 
throughout the North for the dissemination of 
pamphlets and other incendiary publicationsamong 
our slaves, in which the foulest libels upon our 
citizens are mingled with the most terrible appeals 
to all the worst passions of the slave. Murder is 
boldly advocated, and the burning of our dwellings 
and the violation of our wives and daughters held 
up as a venial offence. They have formed combi- 
nations to steal and run away our property. They 
have hired lecturers whose sole business it is to 
inflame the public mind at the North against us. 
Enactment after enactment, is crowded into your 
statute books to hinder, delay, and defraud the 
southern man in the prosecution of his constitu- 
tional rights. Your courts of justice have been 
converted into the vilest instruments of oppression, 
J and, .when other means have failed to accomplish 
j a robbery, riot and murder have been freely resort- 
ed to. Even your pulpits have become the sanc- 
! tuaries of slander, and the temples dedicated to the 
i worship of the living God have echoed and re- 
j echoed to vile and base denunciations of our peo- 
ple and their institutions. Will you tell me that 
all this is the work" of a few mad-brained fanatics? 
I answer that a few fanatics could not have given 
color to the legislation of thirteen States, and pre- 
verted the justice of their courts. No, sir, no. It 
is general, nay, almost universal, and, whatever 



magic there may lie in that word " Union, " it lias 
no balm for wounds like these. 

The Senator from Ohio says that he otl 
to prohibit the slave trade between the Suns, and 
abolish slavery in tins District; and other pl« 
where Congress has exclusive powers of legi la- 
tion. He may well afford to pause at that point 
in his labors, for all beyond that will follow with- 
out an effort. Your forts, arsenals, and dock 
yards, would at once become cities of refuge for 
the slave, and the recovery of a fugitive would be 
utterly impracticable. But the resolutions now 

under consideration go vary far bey 1 this, and 

there are not wanting other evidences of more de- 
termined purposes. I have here a speech deliv- 
ered not very long since by the Senator from 
New York, [Mr. Seward,] and 1 propose to | 
trouble the Senate with some extracts from it. 
Before doing so, however, let me say thai I un- 
derstand the Senators from Ohio and New Hamp- | 
shire have excluded the Senator from New York ; 
from their political fellowship, and deny his right 
to be regarded as a true disciple of the Abolition 
church. This is a degree of rank injustice, against 
which I feel bound to enter my protest. The Sen- 
ator from New York is entitled to a higher place : 
in the synagogue than either of them; for he has ' 
avowed opinions and principles from which they 
shrink with unaffected repugnance. Even your 
merits, Mr. President, illustrious as they confess- 
edly are upon this subject, must pale before the 
brighter glories which cluster around his brow. 
You are guiltv of the criminal weakness of be- 
lieving that the Constitution which you are sworn 
to support cannot be violated without some degree 
of moral delinquency, and while carrying on a 
warfare, pitiless and merciless, indeed, against 
our institutions, you yet acknowledge that there 
are barriers which cannot be broken down, and 
restraints which must be respected.* The Senator 
from New York has emancipated hirnself from 
the thraldom of all such unmanly prejudices, and 
finds in the virtue of the people, and in the Divine 
commandments, his apology and his justification. 
Hear him, and blush for your own feeble and 
timid advocacy of a cause which has awakened 
such emotions and called forth such sentiments: 

"Slavery was once the sin of not some of the Slates only, 
but of them all ; of not our nation only, but of all nations. Ii 
pervcried and corrupted the moral Bense of mankind deeply, 
universally; and this corruption becamt a universal habit. 
* * * * It is written in the Constitution of the United 
States that five slaves shall count equal to three freemen as 
a basis of representation; and it is written, also, in violation 
of the Divine law, that we shall surrendi r the fugitive slave 
who takes a refuge at our firesides from his relentless pur 
suer. You blush not at these things, because they have be- 
come as familiar as household words, * * * * What, 
then, you say ; can nothingbedone tor freedom because the 
public conscience is inert? Yes. much can be done— every- 
thing can be done— slavery can be limited to its present 
bounds — it can be ameliorated — it can he ,ind it must be abol- 
ithed, and you and I can and must do it.'' 

There is no evasion here. All is open, bold, and 
undisguised. We cannot misunderstand this lan- 
guage, and I trust that no one hereafter will ask 
us to believe that anything short of total abolition 
will satisfy northern agitators. 

« But we must begin deeper and lower than in the com- 
position and combination affections and parties, when in the 
strength and security of slaver) Hi ■ You nnswer that it lies 
in the Constitution of the United stale- and the constitutions 
and laws of the slaveholding States. Notal all." 

"Not at all." And yet the Senator has come 
into this Chamber and taken an oath to support and 



defend thai rery Constitution which he had de- 
liberati I to be in violation of the Divine 

nil which he had openly avowed his pur 
po • to trample in 

•■ In- in lie- err OS ->- n 1 1 tix'li t til BOfM 

Con tltulionsand laws can no more rise above th< nil 
the people than tho limpid stream can climb above In native 
spring. Inculcate the love of freedom and the equal rigbn 
n under the paternal roof. Bee in II thai they nrr 

taught in ii shoow and the churches, Reform your mm 

code, V * M 

U would your 

any 

iO Vf M 

,,s!„-i. Bay to i lavery f whi nit shows in boM 
and demands its pound or flesh, If ltdraws one dropol blood 
its life shall pay the rorfl It." 

If these were only the opinions of William 1 1 
IRD, I should not have thought it necessary to 
trouble the Senate with what might thi n have 
been regarded as a very harmless exhibition of 
venomous propensities. But subsequent events 
have stamped them with an importance they never 
could have derived from him. He has since that 
period been clothed with Senatorial robes by the 
Empire State. He has been elected to the office 
he now holds with reference to this very matter, 
and we are bound to. believe he truly reflects ihe 
will of the people whose representative he is. 
With him, therefore, I have nothing more to do. 
The responsibility has passed from his shoulders 
to that of more potent endorsers. And let me ask 
you, sir, in all sincerity, what respect you can en- 
tertain for the intellect of the South, when, with 
all these evidences at hand, you yet think it p 
I ble to deceive us. If, with speeches like these be- 
. fore us, and a knowledge of the rewards which 
J have followed them, we had not been awakened to 
the magnitude of the coming danger, we should 
have deserved to bear the chains you have been 
l forging for our arms. « ,,.. 

I have no threats to make— they are out of time 
! and place; but I tell you, more in sorrow than in 
i anger, not only that you must pause, but that yon 
must retrace your steps. The guarantees of the 
! Constitution must be respected, and its promisee 
j held sacred, or the most weak and timid man in 
I the State I in part represent would scorn your alli- 
ance, and shatter your Confederacy. Indeed, I do 
not know but what it is now too late, and that this 
Union, over which you have preached so much, 
and about which so many eloquent sentences have 
' been framed, is already at an end. Certainly you 
have severed many of its strongest ties, and but 
little more remains besides that formal separation 
which embittered feelings must soon render a ne- 
cessity. You did enough to dissolve it when you 
commenced organized robberies of our propi r t y — 
when you murdered our citizens— -when you vio- 
lated every constitutional obligation, and forgot 
every tie which bound us together as a people. 
Reserve, then, your denunciations of disunion for 
yourselves. It is your act, and you can say noth- 
ing of each other so harsh as to be unjust. 

Often, sir, have I stood in a \ watched 

the sun as it descended behind the mountains. At 
morning and at noon the whole earth was bathed 
in a flood of glorious light, but as the great lumi- 
nary of day traveled westward on Ins journey, 
shadow after shadow began to steal along the 
mountain side. As he sunk lower and lower, the 
shade gathered deeper and deeper, until the whole 
valley was covered with gloom and not a solitary 
beam' lighted up the thick darkness which settled 



8 



upon it. Even so has it been with this Republic. 
Its earlier clays were blessed with the glad light of 
a glorious prosperity 3 trials and difficulties like 
summer clouds rapidly melted away, hosts of in- 
vaders, in all the dread panoply of war, landed 
upon our shores, but they were swept oft' like in- 
sects by the wing of the tempest. Everything 
around us was brightness and security. After a 
while the great arch enemy of man evoked the 
spirit of abolition, and then slowly but surely the 
shadow and the night began to creep over the land. 
I have watched it as I have watched the shade on 
the mountain. What it has once gained it has 
never lost. The spot that has once grown dark 
has remained dark forever. Steadily and contin- 
ually it has increased and deepened until it has 
spread above us a pall like that which hung over 
Jerusalem when the curses denounced by the 
prophets were about to be fulfilled. And am I 
now to be told that I must neglect all the warnings 
written on the canvas of the past, madly turn 
away from the contemplation of the future, and 
permit myself to be lulled into a fatal security by 
siren songs in favor of the Union ? However much 
I may have loved that Union, I love the liberties 
of- my native land far more, and you have taught me 
that they might become antagonists; that the ex- 
istence of the one might be incompatible with the 
other. The conviction came but slowly, for it 
was not without its bitterness. As a boy I looked 
upon the Union as a holy thing, and worshipped 
it. As a man I have gone through that in its de- 
fence which would have shriveled thousands of 
the wretched silk-worms who, in peaceful times, 
earn a cheap reputation for patriotism by professing 
unbounded love for the Union. Even now I am 
not unmindful of all the glonous memories that 
we have in common; I do not forget that there has 
come down to us a rich inheritance of glory which 
is incapable of division. I know that side by side 
the North and the South struggled through the 
Revolution; that side by side their bloody foot- 
prints tracked the snow of Valley-Forge; that 
side by side they crossed the icy billows of the 
Delawarej and snatched from fate the victoryat 
Trenton. I remember all the story of the times 
that tried men's souls, and feel the full strength of 
all the bonds it has woven around us. If they 
have been fearfully weakened, if they are now 
about to snap asunder, the sin and the folly be- 
long not to us, but to those who have forced us 
to choose between chains and infamy on the one 



hand, or equality and independence on the other. 
We are not the assailants, but the assailed; and it 
does not become him who maintains a just cause 
to calculate the consequences. 

The Senator from Vermont [Mr. Phelps] has 
undertaken to assert in substance that the whole 
world looked upon us with abhorrence, and that by 
upholding the institution of slavery we have placed 
ourselves beyond the pale of civilization. When 
the people of his own State, and their representa- 
tives here and elsewhere, give extraordinary evi- 
dences of uncommon morality and Christianity, I 
may listen with patience to a lecture from him; 
but, as I do not understand that to be the case, I 
must be permitted to say that the man who could 
utter such charges against a whole people is not 
only reckless of what is due to the body of which 
he is a member, but gives the highest evidence that 
he is utterly ignorant of all the courtesies of life, 
and entirely beyond the pale of that civilization of 
which he speaks. 

I hope I have satisfied the Senator from Ohio 
that our complaints are not altogether causeless. 
I have but little more to add. There are two 
classes of men who have brought this Government 
to the point at which we now stand — actuated by 
very different motives and principles, but equally 
culpable, and equally chargeable with the crime of 
treason to the land. The first is that band of 
northern fanatics who, regardless of right, regard- 
less of the Constitution, forgetful of all past obli- 
gations, and of all moral and social ties, have exci- 
ted and continued a wild and reckless warfare upon 
an institution of which they know nothing, and 
whose blessings or curses should have been alike 
indifferent to them. The second class is one for 
whom I have less respect, and of whom I always 
speak with less patience. It is that timid, hesita- 
ting, shrinking portion in our own section of the 
Union who are afraid to march up to the line—to 
meet the oppressor on the confines, and hurl him 
back the very moment his footstep presses forbid- 
den ground. A great poet, in the story of his 
visit to the infernal regions, gives a description of 
certain souls which aptly applies to them. He 
found them outside the gates of Hell, and says: 
" Here, with those caitiff angels, they abide 
Who stood aloof in Heaven— to God untrue, 

Yet wanting courage with his foes to side. 
Heaven east them forth its beauty not to stain, 

And Hell refuses to receive them too; 
From them no glory could the damned obtain." 



REMARKS OF MR. BUTLER. 



Mr. BUTLER said: I had no idea of taking any 
part in this debate, except so far as to suggest the 
propriety of printing the resolutions, intending to 
take another occasion to discuss the topics which 
have been brought under discussion in this unex- 
pected debate. But, sir, the gentleman from Ver- 
mont, the other day, indulged in a very wide 
range of debate, so far as regards one of the sub- 
jects which he thought proper to bring within the 
scope of his remarks. He discussed all the doc- 
trines connected with the organization of territo- 
rial government, and uttered many sentiments 
well calculated to arrest attention — such as seemed 
to provoke a reply. 



The gentleman from Ohio, this morning, in a 
somewhat prepared effort, I think, has come for- 
ward, and has avowed doctrines which in their 
tendency and operation cannot be disguised, and, 
sir, while he has admonished us to cultivate har- 
mony, and while he and others have given us 
homilies on the value of this Union, he has avowed 
sentiments, and, not only on this occasion but on 
others, has inculcated doctrines, which will sow 
broadcast the seeds of discord — such as make odi- 
ous and arrogant distinctions between different 
sections of this Confederacy. His doctrines would 
seern to aim at the disfranchisement of the south- 
ern section of the Union, both through the action 



9 



of the Federal Legislature and under the 01 
nation of parties. It is not mere sentiment, bat n 
scheme that he insists on to carry out hii plans <>f 
operation. He presumes on an meres 
ity in the North and a minority in the South, as I 
shall show by his expressed sentiments. I eannol 

therefore allow him to preach decent moderati 

when I know he has, with others, ultimate de 
— designs which I will not allow him : 
under the. forms and professions of moderation. 

He avows openly thai he will submit to no com- 
promise, and will assimilate to no party that will 
not recognize as a basis the free-soil principli 
other words, to form a party to be known B 
democracy — a patty that puts under the ban 
holders as tainted partners in the association. He 
speaks of the South as having held the offices of 
the Confederacy, and he avows doctrines that will 
hereafter, by way of retaliation, disfranchise them 
in the future unless they shall come to terms to be 
prescribed on the basis which he has taken for 
party organization. I have now a letter before 
me, which I shall have occasion to refer to, by 
way of verifying all that I have said; a letter in 
which he openly avows his reliance or > the minor- 
ity of southern interests, and, according to my 
view, on southern defection; what he calls deser- 
tion, I would call treason. His self-sustaining nu- 
merical strength I suspect is at the bottom of his 
sublime political morality. He aims at certainty 
on the disposition of submission by the South to 
the doctrines which he has avowed. Confidence 
has been inspired by the desire of the South to pre- 
serve the Union, and its past history somewhat 
sanctions the assumption. Summed up in a feu- 
words, he calculates upon the unconditional sub- 
mission of one section in accommodating itself to 
the organization of parties to be made exclusively 
by another section ; with kind and gentle allowances, 
however, for desertion from the southern ranks for 
the sake of the prizes of office. But, sir, for fear I 
might do the honorable gentll Si tan injustice, 1 will, 
before I sit down, read extracts from a letter, which 
seems to have been prepared by him with the care 
of one avowing a solemn creed. It is a creed that 
soars to the heavens in its doctrines, but looks to the 
earth for its rewards. Philanthropy prescribes the 
latitude of its boundaries, whilst selfishness con- 
tracts the scope of its operation; a philanthropy 
whose center is everywhere, and whose circum- 
ference is nowhere, but whose practice is to be 
found in the sordid appropriation of office and 
property. 

But allow me to say I am naturalist enough to 
know that it is .not the purest bird that flies the 
highest. It is said of the condor that it alights in 
the rare and cold atmosphere of the snow-capped 
Andes; and yet it is a bird of obscene propensities, 
and feeds on the corruptions of the earth. These 
gentlemen, who are so sublime in their morality, 
when they descend from the elevation which their 
theory aspires to, to the practical application of 
their doctrines, are ready to deprive us of the soil 
that has been won by the common blood and com- 
mon treasure of the country — are ready to appro- 
priate to themselves the offices and their emolu- 
ments, under the organization of parties, and under 
the fraudulent forms of legislation to effect an ' 
odious inequality. Even Federal eligibility to of- 
fice has been assailed, if it should be claimed by a 
southern man. 



Sir, they go further, and tell you in so many 
words, (I. t)i 8 in tin ir propo itioi 

Lti t'y 1 1 1 . iii- for thai was the true import of 
the lai ■ ator from New 1 lampshure. 

II' iy . 

swell ideal 

llenci which will nol compromise with :my 
Innity of an unlimiu d morality. 

Tin • jiciint by pp 

. and to Ipilil those » h" tf< fi no lh( ir rights as 
re ponaible for the Union. Those who h ive done 
rong have no i Lion of 

the pari I 

sailed the Union; they h ive cheri bed it and inud« 
all the compromises to pn ei < • il ; and I say now, 
the northern gentlemen hold tin of its 

fate in their own hands. The] c n close them on 
the cords of this Union by going on in theii r* k- 

iiin, nr stay tin ir hand and do jo 
They are the moving parties, and in Jupiter stator 
they may find a deity worthy of worship; but if 
they go on, they may presume too much on the 
arts of Mercury. The course which das been ad- 
vertised is a rebuking commentary on southern 
acquiescence in wrongful aggri sion. Those who 
have been guilty of the wrong shall not hold rne 
liable for the consequences, imr shall they a 
me a position to the issues which they have n 
If they have brought the Union in jeopardy, they 
shall not throw the odium of disunion is ta on the 
defending and innocent parly. Politicians have 
played with this subject as an element of political 
game, and that game shall have the true parlies 
to it. 

I say it now, and with perfect sincerity and can- 
dor, that the people of the State which 1 represent, 
and the people of the southern States in general, 
have never taken measures thus far with ihe view 
■ or wish that they should result in disunion. I go 
further, and say that their acquiescence in com- 
promise is a refutation of the ehargea that have 
! been made against them. What compromise that 
did not require a sacrifice of right and honor has 
not been acceded to on the part of the South ? 
What compromise that she entered into has she 
: violated? These are questions that may be obvia- 
' ted by evasion or denunciation of a self-sustaining 
I majority, but honesty will only answer them be- 
fore the tribunal of history. The past cannot be 
i changed, and it will go to show that the South has 
made sacrifices to form the Union, and have sub- 
mitted to unequal compromises to preserve it. The 
North has presumed on that love of union to sanc- 
' tion their progressive and arrogant pretensions. 
No, sir, the history of the Confederacy, and espe- 
cially the history of this question, will show a de- 
, gree of submission to compromise that astonishes 
j me in the review of it. I shall not go further than 
to speak of the history of this qui stion with my 
connection with it. It has sugg< : > d new and mis- 
chievous elements of Bectional at d selfish policy, 
I alien to the whole spirit of the Constitution, and 
i the love of justice which inspired its life. Will the 
gentleman inform me what measure of compromise 
has ever been proposed to us, if it were an honor- 
able and just compromise, thai has been rejected by 
us? When it was proposed to extend the Missouri 
compromise to the Pacific, by whom was that 
proposition made? It was made by one side, and 
promptly and even scornfully rejected by the other. 
It was refused, even with tiie wantonness of rejec- 



10 



tion. It was refused on the assumption that some 
of our own men would join in the repudiation. 
By implication that compromise has been supposed 
to five to the South, in all territories south of 36° 
30' entire control. Whilst it in terms excluded 
slavery north of that line, it recognized the right that 
it should exist, if the people thought proper, south 
of that line. Experience has shown that the temp- 
tation to disregard it depended on the power of 
doing so, to operate on a minority made so by its 
operation. It has served the office of taking power 
from the South and placing it in the hands of those 
who have not magnanimity and justice to observe 
its obligations. It has been but a dam of sand 
that has given way to the tide of insolent power. 
When the questions growing out of a proposition 
to give governments to our Mexican acquisitions 
assumed a critical aspect, an honorable effort, with- 
out regard to sections, was made to settle them 
forever, and to take them out of the arena of polit- 
ical gamesters. That effort resulted in the Clayton 
bill. It was framed to save the honor of the South. 
Many thought her rights were not secure under it. 
I will not state its terms. It proposed an honor- 
able compromise, without improper concession. 
What has been its fate? The South generally ac- 
quiesced in it; and, I solemnly believe, for the sake 
of the Union. Does thi3 look like a desire or design 
to dissolve this Confederacy? No, sir, it was any- 
thing e'se. It was a sacrifice to the very name of 
the Union. It has provoked a confidence that may 
be fatal. I" fear it has given rise to a delusion, that 
there are no limits to which the North may not go. 

Another bill was brought in by the honorable 
Senator from Wisconsin, well guarded in its pro- 
visions, in relation to New Mexico and California, 
proposing to extend the Constitution, as far as its 
provisions were applicable, to those Territories; 
and to establish courts to enforce them and other 
fundamental laws. It was assumed on that occa- 
sion that it conceded too much to the South, and 
gave them the advantage in the issue. Was not 
that going far in the spirit of compromise? Could 
anything more strangely show the wantonness of 
non-slaveholding arrogance ? That was set aside, 
and a clause with a snare under it was insisted on 
by northern gentlemen as giving all that would set- 
tle the question; in other words, a clause to cover 
theWilmot proviso. Sir, the compromises have 
all been one way — into the lion's den — nulla vestigia 
retrorsum. But I shall go further and say, we have 
violated none of the compromises into which we 
have entered, whilst we have rejected none that 
have been offered to us on honorable terms. We 
have been forced to a position which we must hold, 
and we must not be blinded any longer by faithless 
compromises and heartless professions. 

Is this not a proposition full of meaning? It 
may be that the cup of conciliation is exhausted. 
I shall say nothing of that. I will not utter men- 
ace, nor will I indicate the end of this fearful ques- 
tion. We have acceded to all that would preserve 
our honor in every compromise that has been 

[>roposed. Indeed, we have evinced a desire to 
et this question pass by, on a point of honor, and 
yet gentlemen come out and accuse those who have 
maintained those compromises, and manifested a 
desire to defend their rights, of a design to sever 
the Union. Oh yes, we are the people, they say, 
who have shown a disposition to sever the differ- 
ent portions of this Union ! It is the wolf taking 



offence at the lamb, because he contradicted him in 
saying he had not muddied the water in drinking 
below him. 

The South, at the time of the formation of this 
Confederacy, made sacrifices, and deprived herself 
of the sceptre. She parted with the sceptre when 
she consented to the formation of this Union, 
when she gave up to the North the power of regu- 
lating commerce by a mere majority. But I shall 
go no further into the history of this matter at 
present. I shall check myself, so far as the tend- 
ency of this argument is concerned; but I have 
much to say on it, and 1 go back to the honorable 
Senator from Ohio. The gentleman from Ohio is 
a Senator; he represents, in part, one of the largest 
States in the Confederacy, and, sir, his opinions 
are to be respected. I am satisfied that he, like 
many others, acts under the pressure of an ex park 
constituency. They are exponents of those who 
have never looked except upon one side of this 
question. Many who come here are committed 
exponents of irresponsible masses. They are 
facile and publican politicians, who feel themselves 
bound to the law of obedience. They act in a 
channel that popular prejudice and irresponsible 
persons have made for them, and yet they talk of 
L slavery. They get their places here by slavish 
submission. They violate the Constitution before 
they come here, by vows on an unconstitutional 
altar. As for any effect that might be produced by 
mere speaking, I would much rather address the 
people than their representatives. The people have 
no temptation to do what is wrong. They might 
be affected by a dispassionate appeal to their judg- 
ments. At least they could be approached as a 
tribunal that could review its judgment. They 
could have no interest to maintain an adversary 
position, where from feeling and duty they might 
wish to become friends. Politicians will play with 
topics as a part of a game, which the people would 
shrink from with horror could they see the conse- 
quences. I think it may be safely said that those 
who yield most to transient popular prejudice, and 
indulge in habitual expressions of love to the peo- 
ple, would betray them soonest if there were an 
adequate temptation. An accommodating spirit is 
generally associated with a facility in morality. 

There are occasions on which I might expect 
statesmen and patriots to elevate themselves above 
those irresponsible influences, but the day has 
passed, I am afraid, when such men are to be 
found. And in making this statement I will not 
tear away one leaf from the history of the North. 
I will not deprive the North of an iota of credit 
that is her due. The past is secure, and I speak 
of it only in an historical point of view; but I will 
not sit here and hear doctrines expressed which 
in their consequences must degrade a portion of 
the Confederacy, and deprive posterity of the 
rights which we have ourselves inherited. 

I will ask the Secretary to read a letter of the 
Senator from Ohio, because, as I have attributed 
to it an influence, the letter itself will furnish the 
evidence upon which I have based it. 
The Secretary read as follows: 

Cincinnati, 1849. 
Mv dear Sir: I observe indications in various quartern 
of a disposition on the part of influential gentlemen to in- 
terpose difficulties in the way of cordial union between the 
old line democracy and the free demociacy, by insisting on 
conditions to which the latter cannot agree without the 
sacrifice of principles which they hold far dearer than party 
success. 



11 



The free democracy , holding in con n w Itli ihe old line 

democracj the cardinal and essential doctrine* "i ilie demo 
erotic faith, believi that the time ha eoim foi the applies 
lion of those doctrines lo the subject ol 
to the subjects of currency and trade, Th * b lieve thai 
slavery is the wont form ol despotism. The ownership ol 
one man by another is the most absolute suhji ctlsn know n 
to human experience. No Democrat, who ha an 
living faith in the great cardinal doctri mocra y, thai 



w.ini, I prefer to ay, thi i national de i itii panj 

ition in pi ■•:> ■ — . obi ) ing thai i 
i ■ r- >t: r ■ — which ill ii- d ictrlnos ri eognr/.e, from the ■ * i « i rial 
form ofnon intervention to the !• m won Ian platform 

1 to in,- tint 

iii,- part) in the free BtatM ought .ii oni a ui advani ( to th« 

> •iii.iii ground, and linn- unitu in > il m> 

with Uieir brethren ol the free d I etthe ;>ntr 

in the -I. iv,- m ii, - ndvanci to lh< Pi maps, 



all men have equal rights bj nature, and that the onlj icgii In advancing, some in ) over to th<- < 



mi i bji cl "i got irnmenl la to m lininiu and secure tin ■ 

rights, can doubt that slaveholdin Inconsistent 

wlih democratic principle*, 

it iB not necessary to advert to the circumstances which, 
form an j yean, prevented either ol the great parties ol the 
country from taking anj ground against slavery. It i- 
enough that circumstances are now changed. Theacqui 
ulionof Mexican territories lias presented the question ol 
slavery In new aspects. Heretofore the slave power was 
•onteiit with retaidincslave territory as slave territory; now 

It seeks to subject i territorj to the blight of slavery. 

Tins enormous pretension has led to a mon general exam- 
ination of the constituli ii relations of the National <;<>* 

ernmenl to the slave system; and that examination has 
fastened the conviction on the minds of thousands and 
hundreds of thousands, thai the ii"\, rnmi ul "i the Union i- 
bound iii |iroinliii slavery in the it rritories, and to t xert all 

Its legitimate and constitul :il powers to I i. loi 

and discourage u. and especial!} to prohibit its existence In 
uii places within the sphere ol Its exclusive jusrisdii lion. 

Tin- is the conviction of free d cracy. They have 

announced it over and ovei again, .mil an- pledged to govi rn 
their political action by it. This pledgt they will undoubt- 
edly redeem. 

Now, what is in hinder the n ci plion of tl - faith by the 
old-line democracy: What shall prevent ind 

frank avowal ofit.' What Bhottl ■ r« .. tit 

straight! u w ird action in consistent j w ith it . 

1 can see inn one thing -the alliance, so calli d, \\ ith the 

slaveholders Uiemseh liu fearol losing tin-ir political 

support mid influence in n Pn sidi ntial eh ction. 

Now, a is vi r\ ci i tain thai n« consideration of mere inim- 
ical e\|i- diency ousAI to induce the democracy to refrain 
from carrying out its own principles; and it seems tome 
equally" certain that political expediencj and duty at this^ 
fcme coincide. 

For, what will be the cost to the d mocra \ of the alliance 
of the slaveholders in ,-i Presidential campaign ? 

To determine this question, it must first be seen what the 
slaveholders demand as tin- price of theii alliance. This 
deinaml is easily stated. 

It is non-intervention upon tin* subject of slavery. That 
is, nortii'-rnjn- n may think and act at home as they i boose, 

ami southert n likewise; but when northern nun and 

southern men meet at Washington, either in executive or 
legislative capacities, they must not i ake unj action against 
slavery, but leave the slaveholders at 1 ii>«-rt\ to introduce 
alaveholdmg wherever they can. 

Tin-, ii l understand it. i- the ground of the Washington 



EftS freeVaKno universe^ 5 g£Z£ ' •'-southern man who goes over on tins « sUof 

will be regarded as a train - el, who lias 



well it might be, in the slave States 

Now, it is my deliberate opinion that ii i- utterly imprac- 
ticable to unite the di roocracy on this platform in ihe free 

States. 

The free democracy can never accede to it; and main- 
taining, a- the) do, the cardinal doctrines of democracy, and 
occupying, as they will, a bold anil independent position on 

question and every other, the i pie who love 

boldness and independence 'will rally around them in such 

Dumjii r- that it will be utterly impossible for compr ising 

democracj to < afij a n spei table number ol the firei Si ttes, 
ami tiie> must, as heretofore, divide ihe free Stales with 
compromising Whiggism. Success, therefore, on the non- 
intervention platform i-, mr the old demoi racj , quite out of 
the question. 

The free de cracj beliave in nnn-inti rvention. such as 

-mi 1 1 oi i requires; non-intervention J>j Congress with 
the legislation of the Stan s on the subject of slavery. But 

neither the history of the country, nor the Constituti >t 

the country, warrants non-interveiitioH by Congress with 
slavery in territories and elsewhere, without ihe limits of 
any Slate., but « iihin the i xf lusive jiwkdiclinn of the Na- 
tional Government. Slavery in s n h territory or places can- 
not. under a strict construction of the Constitution, exist at 
all. Blavery in such territory oj plai i - ought ai Icasi to be 
prohilnti-il !i\ Congress. 

I have regretted to see certain expressions attributed to 
John Van Buren, calculated lo revive unpleasant ft clings 
such as, thai the national democratic party is dissolved. 1 



i ive Slates, lie part) mil >lgo Into 

i i- mporai | minorltj Let It I 

u id in tl • (ration, unni ) t \ . the invjni i 

bllily of tin- Mini I Slants. Trium- 
phant in th bj th-- itrength ol thi n 
principles,) vi n lit Ihe lave States, the di m ■ rni J i an elect 
ii- n ition il undi i sucht it lu di ipils 

"I all Opposition. 

.-'mil are (ny vli w - 1 Ifei i a strong ennfldi nee that time 

will prove their • I am a lleilll ei.it. U 

eiin , and I i' ' I ■■ i II) sol 

democratic organization and ihe triumph ol lu principle*. 
Tin- doctrl iiocracy, on the »ubj - I "i trade. 

nmand ihe • nlii 

.- in. lint I cannot, « hile boldl . 

principles in rel it ',nt> from th.-ir 

just application t slavi ry. I should feel guilt) ol "hamefui 
dereliction of duty II [did. Yon know what multitudes 
now sympathize with me, and how truly. It is this very 
fidelity to dent icratic principles which make* it im 

foi them to eon i rn with slavery What a mi 

art] embt icing 
defeat by suet) i compromise, and thus making II 
for hundreds 'of thousands of the Irueal Democrat* In the 
land loci ■ en adhesion to party and adit lion i" 

principle ! 

Tin- counsels of the Wa htngton Unhm tend I 
in my judgment cannot be safel) followed. I shall ii • very 
glad to h ii from you on this subject, and mean 
main, triifj . your irn ml, S. P. • H I 

J. (i. Hin sun, Esq, 

Mr. I SUTLER. Now, sir, who are in favor of 
union and who of disunion, according to the sen- 
timents there expressed. The gentleman says it 
makes a sectional party in the programme of hia 
party organization. The basis of his party is to 
proscribe the South, or to presume on desertion 
and treason. Its minority is the predicate of his 
whole sage superstructure of party organization. 
Tins is the emanation of the new-light pun 
who would throw into the shade of their contrast 
the statesmen who have preceded them. Those 
who go over to them are of the true faith, whilst 
those who adhere to their ancient privileges and 
constitutional positions are called deserters. Sir, 



given up his constituents for lucre. The South has 
its peculiar institution, and it is the duly of her 
representatives to defend it to the last extremity — 
it is the defence of our firesides. If I were to ap- 
ply a meaning to the language used by the gentle- 
men, it would be very different from thai which 
he has given. Oh, yes, these gentlemen who are 
for taking care of our slaves, who ejrprt BS so much 
sympathy for them, who are for universal eman- 
cipation, and who cannot listen to any proposition 
which falls short of what they in t heir visionary 
conceptions suppose will eventuate inthe treedom 
of the whole human race, when applied to on the 
part of emancipated slaves, deny them soil upon 
which to rest the soles of their feet. They preach 
to the slave his right of rebellion against his mas- 
ter. So long as he can hold out t<> him ti>e means 
of running away, they are ready and willing to 
countenance him; but when they becomi free, wa 
find on (he part of those gentlemen a hostility 
equal to the love tiny professed. 

When John Randolph, a distinguished citizen 



12 



of Virginia — that State which gave to the gentle- 
man's State its existence, with that ordinance 
which has been said to have been dictated by the 
very spirit of freedom, whilst in consequence it 
has been pregnant with mischief— Mr. Randolph 
gave freedom to his slaves, imagining that they 
would easily find a place of refuge in territory 
made free by Virginia, And what was the fact? 
They were driven out of Ohio at the point of the 
bayonet. But, sir, if they had gone into the State as 
fugitives from their master, in violation of the mas- 
ter's rights, they would readily have found a home. 

Mr. CHASE. Will the gentleman allow me 
to correct him as to a matter of fact? The eman- 
cipated slaves of Mr. Randolph are, at this day, 
living in Ohio. Ohio desires a homogeneous pop- 
ulation, and does not desire a population of varied 
character. But she drives no person from her ter- 
ritory at the point of the bayonet or otherwise. 

Mr. BUTLER. When the emancipated slaves 
of Mr. Randolph first entered Ohio they were not 
permitted to remain. There has been some alter- 
ation made since, I believe, in the laws of Ohio. 
Whether they are now in that State I cannot say. 
I am merely stating an historical fact that they 
were not allowed to remain upon first entering the 
State. The gentleman cannot change the state of 
the case by his assertion, and he need not attempt 
to distort the facts, because I know the history to 
be as I have stated. Yes, sir, they have proposed 
and voted for 

Mr. HUNTER. Will my friend allow me to 
set him right in regard to this matter? I under- 
stand that the executor of Mr. Randolph's estate 
paid nine thousand dollars for a farm for. these 
emancipated blacks in Ohio, and when they went 
to take possession they were driven off by men 
armed with guns and pistols, and never permitted 
to settle upon the land that had thus been pur- 
chased for them. 

Mr. BUTLER. I thank my friend for this 
statement; it is a consuming refutation of what the 
gentleman has asserted. They reached Ohio only 
under the garb of being servants ; they claimed 
their civil rights by appearing to be slaves to those 
who denounce slavery, &c. I believe that the 
only way to be Reived favorably in Ohio is for a 
man to represent himself as a runaway slave. In 
their wondrous philanthropy they give them pro- 
tection if they represent themselves as runaway 
Slaves. But the gentleman from Virginia has 
given you the true history of this matter, and I do 
not stand corrected by any explanation that the 
gentleman from Ohio has given. 

But I was about to allude to the views of gen- 
tlemen in regard to California, and I shall have 
occasion to speak of that hereafter. I have no 
doubt they suppose that slaveholders are to be pro- 
hibited from carrying their property there, and 
perhaps that blacks will be excluded altogether. 
I will put the question to those who propose this 
sublime doctrine — I will put it to the gentleman 
from New Hampshire, and I believe he is at least 
candid, I will do him the justice to say this — if 
the South send ten thousand slaves to-morrow to 
a free State, with a view to make them free, shall 
we not be permitted to do so? I do not believe 
the gentleman can answer the question. There is 
not, sir, a non-slaveholding State in the Union 
that would receive our slaves if we chose to send 
them there. 



I myself have had an agency in sending some 
free people of color to Ohio; and they were better 
off under a tolerated existence in South Carolina, 
where their rights would not have been invaded 
by vulgar ribaldry, than in a situation in which 
they feel all the effects of exclusion — where free- 
dom is talked of and where privilege is denied — 
where philanthropy in profession covers oppres- 
sion. 

It is the interference of these pseudo-philanthro- 
pists which has prevented the masters and mis- 
tresses of slaves from setting them free. We can- 
not do it now, sir, for we cannot send them into 
those States where the institution does not exist. 
Nor can we, according to the doctrine of these gen- 
tlemen, send them to California or New Mexico. 
Why, sir, if they were to go into any free State, 
do you suppose they would be tolerated.? What 
is to become of these people in favor of whom 
there have been such sublime sermons preached, 
whose condition is the subject of such super- 
scribable zeal and solicitude? Those gentlemen 
have taken the blacks under their especial care. 
Baneful influences are exerted over them to. make 
them dissatisfied with the condition in which 
they are placed, whilst there is no substantial 
mode pointed out to better their condition. The 
slave, under such influences, is made a rebel 
against his master, only that he may become 
an outcast and a pauper in the midst of his 
professed friends, but in fact real enemies. In- 
cendiary publications are disseminated among 
them,, and with a view to seduce them from their 
fide!nyT~\VI,y, the very speeches which gentle- 
men make on this floor, I pay for in part under 
the post office arrangements in sending them to 
my State, that they may be disseminated and read 
by or to the blacks; those speeches by which they 
are to be rendered dissatisfied with their condition. 
I perhaps have no right here to allude to a remark 
of an honorable gentleman from a non-slavehold- 
ing State, and one of the most distinguished in 
the Confederacy, who declared to me once that 
you cannot better the condition of the slaves as 
a mass, if the relation of master and slave could 
be dissolved to-morrow. You cannot give them 
the rights of freemen. The free States have re- 
fused it. I speak of Pennsylvania particularly; I 
do not know how far the remark will apply to the 
other States. You give them but the name of 
freedom, but none of its fruits. The. condition of 
the slave could not be bettered. But the gentle- 
man has denied that 'the free States are by clubs 
and associations making efforts to affect the condi- 
tion of the slave and his master. How do so 
many printed pamphlets find their way in the 
slave States ? How have these incendiary publi- 
cations found their way into South Carolina? 
Bundles of them have been found in our post of- 
fices. One individual has been indicted, but I for- 
bear alluding to his case, as I would not control 
the administration of justice. 

But, sir, in the. case alluded to, there is reason 
to suppose that a combination has been formed to 
produce a revolution in South Carolina on the 
slave question. The pamphlets are now to be 
found, with an aim that cannot be mistaken. They 
are incendiary publications in every sense of the 
word, and written from the worst of motives. 
There is a gentleman (Mr. Barret) who has gone 
to South Carolina, and there was found in his pos- 



la 



session large quantitiea of pamphlet* and other 
document*, which were calculated t" produ 
revolution in the South. He stated that he did 
not design their dissemination, bat there they are 
in the post office, like a torch n< ar a powder mag* 
azine, at this flay, 

Mr. HALE. Were they addressed to white! 
or blacks 

Mr. BUTLER. They wen ' I sup- 

f>ose, to some of your whites — whites who think 
ike yourself. That i.; the beat answer 1 can 
make. 

Mr. HALE. Then there arc some p< I 
my wav of thinking at the South. 

Mr. BUTLER. Yes, there are some who travel 
from your part of the country, and who, having 
been fostered by our hospitality, have basely taken 
advantage of us, and committed treason against 
our institutions. It is certain that these papers art- 
sent there with a view to be used. 1 do not know 
whether Babbit is guilty of not. I shall make no 
charge. 

The gentleman has declared that he is not aware 
that any persons are associated fbr the purpose of 
sending these documents. Indeed, 1 am happy to 
hear that he does not; but such documents are to 



i"- found, and I aw sorry to belii re thai - 
u tually v.i i 
i who have n una. <i from the 

.South tO < >hio. '1'hal lli' v 'I" wi i • 

in. nts mi .'. i the inction ol Lion, I have 

ing. The p I purport 

ofthe whole thine is, these men travi I about under 
the oeti i lie -ting 

in it. rials foi hii voui 

nts shall be disseminated} and I Kurc 

' ■ 

that hi il 
rid y t, .■•ii , 
ference continually. 

1 had no idi a of taking up the lime of l 
ate; but when I 

here in Ins place and preach harmony, and under 

the g trb of moderation to i .1 

could not refrain i'i"tn making • "t his 

ide i" the is tuea involved in tn 

1 shall not say here ■•• hal thi 9 »ulh •■■ i I ■ 

honor and inter, BtS of thesi Si iteS will be : ; .il"'- now 

in their own keeping. They havi i 

storm, but I hope thoy will not be terrified l>y it 
They will meet it with regret, but without terror 
I think. 



REMARKS OF MR. JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



Mr. DAVIS, of Mississippi, said: Mr. President, 
I do not know that I should have said anything 
upon this occasion but for the fact that the Senator < 
from New Hampshire [Mr. Hale] has made j 
several points, and announced them in connection . 
with the fact that he is about to be absent from the 
Senate. His speech was quite in keeping, sir, i 
with many ofthe acts I have witnessed on the part | 
of that Senator. It was characteristic with him to i 
make a speech upon this subject just before he 
was to leave the Senate, that he may avail himself 
of it, as I suppose, in the region he is about to visit, 
as food for agitation, and as evidence of his prow- 
ess upon the floor. On this occasion, he has taken 
as his theme the defence of the factory laborer — 
the intellectual cultivation and excellent morality 
of his constituents ; and in order to produce con- 
viction, I thought il exceeding well, quite prudent, 
I will not say how necessary, that lie should an- 
nounce that it was his colleague, and not himself, 
who dwelt among and wa3 to be regarded as the 
representative of so praiseworthy a population, so 
high in the scale of humanity, so moral, so intelli- 
gent and proper in all things. I thought it well, 
sir, that it was his colleague whom the honorable 
Senator located in the midst of such superior sam- 
ples of humanity. 

Mr. HALE. Will the honorable Senator per- 
mit me to interrupt him ? I stated that my col- 
league resided in one manufacturing village of the 
kind I have described, and that 1 reside myself in 
another ofthe same kind. 

Mr. DAVIS. I thought the Senator said it was 
his colleague who resided among these remarkable 
people; but as he has now corrected the statement, 
I can only wonder the more that, coming himself 
from the midst of a population so moral, so ac- 
complished, and instructed, therefore to be sup- 
posed so regardful of the rights of others, so 
regardful of the Constitution as those he has the 



honor to represent, he should make demonstra- 
tions such as he is constantly exhibiting upon this 
floor. 1 thought it well, as 1 understood mm first, 
but now it assumes a more dubious form; and 
without the high eulogy which he delivered upon 
that population, and which I suppose he is to take 
home with him, I should have doubted their 
claims to such and so numerous virtues. I trust 
he will take home with him also the speech he de- 
livered the other day upon this floor, in which he 
announced that all those petitions and memorials 
are a mere trick, intended for electioneering purpo- 
ses; that this agitation is a mere game, intended to 
cajole the people; that it is all a very harmless mat- 
ter; that it means really nothing, except to keep up 
an excitement, and secure votes to cand idates at elec- 
tion time. 1 hope that the Senator will repeat that 
speech to these people when he happens to attend 
meetings whence these and similar resolutions go 
forth. When the people in that quarter of the 
Union are about to be lashed into fury against the 
institutions of the southern States by the prompt 
ings of fanaticism, and, as a moral and religious 
duty, are urged to assail that of which they 
know nothing, 1 hope that he will rise and tell 
them how mean a spirit, how corrupt a pur- 
pose, and how empty are the declarations which 
have provoked them to this madness. La him 
tell them, as he told the Senator from Vermont, 
when he referred to the introduction of these 
resolutions, that it is a convenience to get up 
resolutions of the sort when a Senator is to be 
elected. I think, sir, this would be far b< tier than 
any constitutional argument, or, if i ;could 

be supposed there, than any southern address 
which could be delivered. I think it would recall 
the patriotism and the justice even of the Senator's 
own constituency to a sense of their folly and rash- 
ness— recall them from their wild war upon the 
rights of others, and cause them to reflect how far 



14 



they had been made the unwilling instruments of 
mere demagogues, seeking to elevate themselves at 
their expense and the expense of the country, by 
means of exciting their jealousy and passion. 

But the Senator makes another declaration which 
surprises me — not being very well informed in re- 
lation to his private history — that he is not a mem- 
ber of any of those associations which are opera- 
ting in the North against the institutions of the 
South, and that he knows nothing of them. I am 
glad to hear it; and can now understand his decla- 
ration, that he knows of no associations for the 
purpose of printing incendiary publications, to be 
circulated at the South. We do know it, and it is 
strange that he does not. Why, sir, the New 
York Anti-Slavery Society sends out more publi- 
cations, I believe, than the Senate of the United 
States. They are sent not only into the southern 
States, but, sir, that society has printed numerous 
publications for the express purpose of circulation 
in California; and the purpose has beenavowed, by 
means of agents and publications gratuitously dis- 
tributed, to prevent slavery from being admitted 
into the constitution of California. Not only this, 
but they are associated in close affiliation with 
similar societies in Great Britain and Scotland. 
They acknowledge the contributions of those so- 
cieties to be applied to these very objects for which 
they are laboring, according to their own reports. 
It is very strange that we, who stand so far off, 
should know so much more in relation to these 
matters than the Senator from New Hampshire. 
Yet, sir, I am glad that it is so — that such is the 
fact — because it exonerates the Senator from New 
Hampshire from much of that culpability which 
we had heretofore assigned to him. 

Mr. President, I always enter into the discussion 
of the slavery question with feelings of reluctance; 
and only because I am forced into it by those who, 
having nothing to do with, nevertheless inde- 
cently interfere in our domestic affairs, have I 
done so. Sir, it is a melancholy fact, that morn- 
ing after morning, when we come here to enter into 
the business of the Senate, our feelings should be 
harrowed up by the introduction of this exciting 
and profitless subject, and we be compelled to listen 
to insults heaped upon our institutions. Sir, there 
is no man who comes here to represent his con- 
stituency for high and useful purposes, and who 
feels upon himself the obligation of his oath to 
maintain the Constitution of the United States, who 
could thus act, from day to day, for the purpose 
of disturbing the useful legislation of the country 
— for no other purpose than to insert another brand 
into the flame which every reflecting, sober man 
now sees threatens to consume the fabric of our 
Government. We of the South stand now, a3 we 
have always stood, upon the defensive. We raised 
not this question; but when raised, it is our duty 
to defend ourselves. For one, sir, my purposes 
are to keep down this species of excitement, both 
here and at home. I know the temper of those 
whom I represent, and they require no promptings 
to resist aggression or insult. I know their deter- 
mination. It is well and deeply taken, and will be 
shown when the crisis comes. They make no 
threats against any one, and leastof allagainstthe 
Union, for which they have made such heavy and 
continued sacrifices. With them Union is a sen- 
timent, not a calculation — they adhere to it with 
the tenacity of filial affection; but their adhesion 



in no degree results from convictions of inter- 
' est. They know their rights, while they fee! 
I their wrongs; and they will maintain the one, 
resent the other, if it may be, will preserve 
our constitutional Union ; but the Union with- 
out the Constitution they hold to be a curse. 
With the Constitution, they will never abandon it. 
We, sir, are parties to this Union only under the 
Constitution, and there is no power known in the 
world that could dictate to my little State a Union 
in which her rights were continually disrespected 
and trampled upon by an unrestrained majority. 
The present generation, sir, will maintain the char- 
acter their fathers won. They well know how to 
sustain the institutions which they inherited, even 
by civil war, if that be provoked. They will 
march up to this issue, and meei it face to face, 
though the world were inarms against them. 

This is our position; you have not respected it. 
I know yours, and cannot respect it; and know- 
ing it, 1 came to this session of Congress with 
melancholy forebodings — with apprehension that 
it might be the last of our Government. I still 
trusted, however, in the intelligence and patriot- 
ism of the masses, for I have long since said that 
I put no faith in politicians. I feel that they have 
raised a storm which they cannot control. They 
have invoked a spirit which they cannot allay, and 
dare not confront. And yet I believe that the 
honest masses, the descendants of the Frank- 
lins, the Hancocks, and the Adamses, if they 
saw our institutions about to be destroyed by 
a mean and captious exercise of the power of 
demagogues to press to a fatal extremity ag- 
gressions upon our rights by the North, would 
rise up in their strength, and would enforce the 
justice and obligations of the Constitution. This 
is no indication of any confidence which I put 
in their representatives; with them I am ready 
to meet this issue face to face; and if the represent- 
atives of that people think proper to sow the 
seeds of dissension, and to inflame the passions 
and prejudices of one section, whilst they drive 
the other by every possible provocation to the 
point of civil war, then all I have to say is, that 
the representatives of the South, true to their con- 
stituency, are prepared to meet the issue here and 
now. If this is to be the hot-bed of civil war, if 
from this as a center the evil is to radiate through- 
out our country, here let the first battle be fought! 
If gentlemen come here constantly to press upon 
us, strip us of our rights, to move the people of 
one section of the nation to hostility against the 
other, I hope that those who have brought the 
country to this crisis will meet the first test. 

Mr. President, it is no part of the business of a 
southern representative here to deliver panegyrics 
upon the attachment of his constituents to the 
Union. We have proved our love of the Union 
and our devotion to it too often and too long to 
require such declarations. Let those who feel 
that it may be doubted make their declarations of 
fidelity to the Union; we have nothing of the kind 
to do. If the State of Vermont chooses to send 
to the Senate of the United States insulting resolu- 
tions relating to her sister States, let the Senators 
and Representatives of that State do their duty in 
relation to them; and as I say nothing against a 
sovereign State, I will only say to those Senators 
that I regret that Vermont has not now such con- 
stitutional scruples as actuated her in the war of 



15 



1812, and that she does not keep her resolution! 
within her own limits, in this war of sectional 
aggression, as she attempted to keep her troops 
during that war of national defence, 

I regret that 1 shall have to part with many 
friends with whom I have uniformly acted in the 
Senate, upon the motion, now pending, to print 
these resolutions. I would agree t" print t h«in , 
however offensive they might bo, if the Si ' 
sent them to the Senate. The State has a ri^ht to 
speak to the Senate, and be heard. But 1 accept 
the argument of the Senator from Georgia, which 



Ims improperly, as it scenm to mr, been called 

i' the 
ton i" whom tl" y ire din ted, and I pel 
no obligation n quirin ; them to have 
befon > 

to them, with refen nee to iie-ir i . and 

ii.i 'lit just aa well remain in their own pockets as 
to in- upon the table i to. I hold then 

to be unii ■ ineulting, 

liable to the Constitution; and I will HOI en- 
dorse them by my »ote. I hive thus briefly suited 
my reasons. 



Printed at the I 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 898 084 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 898 084 f 



